Devalued Prize

Tom Friedman writes:

The Nobel committee did President Obama no favors by prematurely awarding
him its peace prize. As he himself acknowledged, he has not done anything yet on
the scale that would normally merit such an award — and it dismays me that the
most important prize in the world has been devalued in this way.

It is not the president’s fault, though, that the Europeans are so relieved
at his style of leadership, in contrast to that of his predecessor, that they
want to do all they can to validate and encourage it. I thought the president
showed great grace in accepting the prize not for himself but “as an affirmation
of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all
nations.”